Denizens of Darkness
by Angelycious
Summary: Takes place after Series Four finale. Lucifer is stuck in hell and Chloe has been mourning him ever since. The Angel of Prophecy and Divination has seen how it all ends, but she doesn't know which path Chloe will take, so she decides to give her a little nudge in the right direction. She'd never admit it, but she never wanted any of it to happen.
1. Aftermath

The shadowy figure loomed in the dark corner, watching the room with a serious eye. It looked no different, and yet, it lacked that usual spark that made it fill with the warmth of the Morning Star. The Light Bringer had gone home, willingly, by choice. It had been foretold many millennia ago, and yet, it still came as a surprise. Not so much his return, that was to be expected, but the reason behind it.

Stepping out from the shadows, long billowing robes behind her, she tucked the trail of her long veil into her breast plate. No angelic robe was complete without it. Her eyes scanned the area, the softness lost under all the darkness. Walking along the bar, trailing her hand across the wooden surface allowed the images to flash before her. She could see it all, every interaction, every detail. The details of the lives and futures of all who had touched it. All but one. It was always tricky, not an exact art. Every decision caused branches, they never arrived at their destination the same way, but they always got there eventually. It was the journey that was important more than the destination. He may have created the ending, but the path was still open to interpretation.

That was part of the problem, the not knowing. She'd seen the fall, she'd foretold the rebellion. She had been burdened with the knowledge of Amenadiel's disgrace and Uriel's tragedy. She'd seen the fiery pits of hell and her mother's loss. The prophecy had been hers, she'd seen that too. All paths converged until she no longer knew where the world of the humans and the angels parted. They became so jumbled that it was hard to see the true path. Hell, Earth, Heaven, all of divinity would bow to her whim should she so wish it and yet, she could see all that was His plan. Decisions that were cast aside and exemptions made. Deals that were broken caused her physical pain and yet she still sat, stoic in her resolve not to interfere. She never left her domain, finding the world of mortals to be more pain than she could bear. The tiny lifespans of man next to the infinite lives of a celestial being, there was no contest.

Yet Amenadiel proceeded to make a child. A Nephilim, the first ever to exist. She saw the great tragedy that would befall them in the future, the pain and suffering to everyone. Yet she could not bring herself to reveal such. To break their hearts now would only make the inevitable worse later. So why was she here now? Walking the Earth like so many of her brothers and sisters had done before her, yet she'd detested so openly. One by one, they'd become trapped in their own guilt and shame. Amenadiel had fallen because of his own self-doubt. Lucifer had destroyed his own family and She had been tossed aside into Her own dimension, never to see Her children again. And it wasn't fair.

Making decisions had never been Lucifer's strong point, that much had been true from the start. Even from before his birth, she had foreseen all he would do. His path had been paved even before the birth of the first. Before the creation of humanity. There had been no escape. Free Will didn't exist.

Or so she had thought.

Things were different now. She didn't know why, but they were. There was something in the air, something brewing, but she couldn't see it. Her instincts were failing her, and she needed to find the answer. The answer, as it appeared, lay in one place only. The Place where all instincts fail.

The elevator doors slid open and the figure smirked. Right on time. Stepping back into the shadows behind the bar as the visitor moved fully into the room, the figure wrapped herself in the darkness, watching, waiting. She had to know. She had to see the path.

Chloe looked around the penthouse again. She'd been coming here every night after work, expecting to find Lucifer back at him piano, knocking back bottles of whiskey, even, she allowed, finding a hooker half naked in his bed. Anything but the empty loneliness she now found. It was tearing her apart from the inside, knowing he'd left for her, to protect her. Going through literal hell, as he always did, to make sure she was safe. She'd never gotten it before, didn't understand the depths of pain he suffered just to keep her alive and yet there were so many times she hadn't thanked him for it. She'd fought him at every opportunity and not even thought about what that might have meant to him.

Walking over to his piano, she trailed her finger along the keys. A six-month layer of dust stuck to her finger and she stared down at it. The realisation, the dawn truth had hit her long before she'd gone to him in that moment, but he was the Devil, the actual Devil and coming to terms with that had forced her to hold herself back from him, to keep herself safe. Not physically, because she knew somehow on an intimate level that he would never hurt her, but emotionally? That was different. Even if he wasn't what the bible stories and myths said about him, he was still Lucifer, fallen angel of the Almighty, cast unto Hell for rebellion. Punishing those who deserved it and forcing his will over others. Even if she was immune to his many charms and could now understand him better, seeing his truth like that, it had shocked her to her very core, caused her to question everything she'd ever thought or felt. Everything he'd ever done, everything he'd ever said to her had raced through her mind as she analysed it for clues about his true identity, looking for the sure lie. And yet, somehow, she'd always believed him. Seeing his face had only been the push she needed to accept the truth.

And then she'd run away.

Run to the one man in the world who believed her, made her see. Made her think that she was doing the right thing by betraying the one man in her life, the one person, who'd never lied to her. Oh, she'd tried so hard to deny her part in it, told him she was scared, and she was, of course she was, but was she scared of him, or of the fact that she'd always known the truth but gone along with it anyway, to solve the case?

The way he interacted with suspects, thrown that agent out the window, been shot numerous times only to show up at work the next day without a scratch, of course she knew. How could she not? She'd been kidding herself to say she hadn't always suspected he was telling her the whole truth even if it was so incredibly unbelievable. The one time she'd almost had an explanation, a not so divine one, when Amenadiel tried to throw her off the scent with his talk of makeup, blood bags and bullet proof vests, she'd known it had all been a lie and yet had thrown out the only evidence she'd had to disprove it all. Preferring to keep the lie rather than face the truth. She thought she knew better. She couldn't have been more wrong.

She loved him. She had for a long time. He'd tried to throw her off course, suggest to the both of them that they weren't right for each other. Candy, Pierce, Dan, even his numerous flirtations were all thrown in her face as a way to help her see just how bad of an idea the two of them together was. It had worked in the moment, but in the end, just like every other time, they'd been drawn to each other like magnets, unable to stop the pull that had them constantly racing towards each other.

A soft warmth filled her, and Chloe staggered back from the piano, looking desperately around the room to see him, anything that might suggest Lucifer was back from hell. But there was nothing. The penthouse was dark and quiet, as it always was when she was here. Amenadiel had promised her that Lucifer was fine, that he was as safe as he could be in Hell, but she didn't care. The thought of him in that place, the place he'd spent most of his time on Earth trying to avoid, was painful. The knowledge of why he was there, that because he loved her he was sacrificing his life for her, it was a cruel fate she wouldn't wish on anyone. To her, he was effectively dead.

She'd tried to explain to Ella and Dan. It didn't really work. Her overwhelming sense of loss was hard to hide and simply telling them that Lucifer had left hadn't really gone over well. Ella didn't believe that Lucifer would leave after everything that happened and of course, Dan, who would believe any ill from Lucifer had tried to vow to hunt him down if he ever tried to return. It hadn't felt right to besmirch his reputation like that, not when he was only doing what he believed had to be done. In the end, Chloe had let them in on a close truth, that family problems were causing horrible sacrifices to be made on all sides and that he'd had to deal with some responsibilities he had from his father, meaning he'd had to leave suddenly in a critical point. Of course, she'd made it very clear that they weren't to say anything to anyone about any of it and that he had explained everything to her before he'd left.

Linda helped where she could, she let Chloe cry into her shoulder for the first couple of days. There wasn't much she could say or do however, because she was far too busy with her own life and as she had pointed out, this separation may not even be forever. Amenadiel and Maze were already working on ways to get Lucifer back, and Maze had Amenadiel fly her back to hell a couple of months ago in order to protect him. Chloe was grateful of course, but it made the amount of people she could talk to about the real truth, a very small group indeed.

Unsurprisingly, she supposed, her best source of comfort was Trixie, who could never believe any bad mouthing about him. Though she was only a child, she was far more open to all the divinity around her than she had ever been before. Curiously, not long after everything had happened, Trixie had taken to leading her mother to churches, and praying with her. Of course, Chloe had no way of knowing if any of it got down to Hell, she supposed it was crazy to think so, since most people didn't pray down, but these days she was willing to believe anything. It had been Trixie's idea to visit the penthouse most nights, she'd believed that if Lucifer were going to come back from wherever he was, the penthouse would be the first place he would go, and Chloe supposed that was true, unless he didn't want to be found.

That same feeling of warmth and light washed over her, and Chloe frowned looking around the room again for the source of it. The room was as empty as it always was, and she sighed, leaning against the piano heavily. It was her mind playing tricks on her, trying to make her believe it was Lucifer's presence she was feeling. It must have been a lot longer than she thought since she'd thought about the feel of him though, because the presence felt different, softer, harsher.

A suddenly shadowy moment in the corner of the room behind the bar made her pause and she instinctively went for her gun, hissing slightly when she remembered she'd left it in her car because she'd never thought she'd need it here. "Who are you and why are you here?" She asked, moving closer to the bar to try and see who it might be.

The slight whooshing sound was horrifyingly familiar, and Chloe took a tentative step back as a small, figure, face covered in a long white veil, stepped out into the low light. "Chloe Decker."

The voice was dreamy, like something out of a cheesy movie, yet it held a strong resonance, a feeling that each word said was of vital importance. "Who are you?" She had to ask. She had a feeling this was someone divine, though she did not know who. Were they on Lucifer's side or were they here to stop whatever was happening between her and Lucifer, was this someone she should embrace, or fear?

"Chloe Decker, the time is near."

Chloe frowned. She didn't know who this was, it was a strange feeling and the way they spoke was creepy almost, but there was something in the words, the way they made her feel. "You're not answering my question."

"Your question is irrelevant, it means little. Chloe Decker, you must prepare."

Chloe was frustrated. It was true that Lucifer's siblings… okay she'd only ever met Amenadiel, but Lucifer suggested that most of his siblings were as stubbornly frustrating as he was, which seemed to be being confirmed right in front of her. "I must prepare for what?"

"The truth is not yet to hand, but the journey will be hard. The endgame is the goal of the universe, for the unification of all life."

Chloe shook her head, stepping closer now that the being, angel, whatever it was, hadn't yet tried to attack her or whatever. "I don't understand."

"You are not supposed to. The divine cannot be seen by mortal eyes, only belief will show you the way."

"The way to what?" She asked again, her eyes scanning all she could of the figure, maybe trying to place her in the ridiculous menagerie of angel lore she now carried. Not that even a quarter of it was real. "What are you trying to tell me?"

The figure pulled her veil aside to reveal a pale face, bright blue eyes clouded over with white. She looked young, no more than about fourteen, though Chloe was aware that she was probably millions of years old, or however long Angels were around for. Even so, the appearance was very off-putting as she was used to adults and not Divine children. "Chloe Decker, your life is twined with the Divine. He has shown me many paths and many ends, but I cannot see the path you will take. Your journey has yet to be written."

Chloe blinked at this. She didn't know what she was supposed to say, but whatever was happening right now, was obviously something to do with Lucifer, it was the only _twined with the Divine_ that she could think of. Did that mean Lucifer was returning, or something else? Something… evil? "How do you know this?" She asked, Amenadiel had made it clear that angels never knew God's plan, yet this one seemed to be suggesting that she did. "Who are you?"

The Angel tilted her head slightly, her eyes clouding over again, and her face turned slack.

"It was ordained each footfall pressed into its place  
Every word spoken to its rhythm  
We dance, and he sees us dancing  
If you wish to know, just ask  
Eistibus will tell you."

It was a recital, something she seemed compelled to say. The light returned to her eyes once more as Chloe mulled over the words. They made absolutely no sense to her, but, she supposed that was the point. "Your name is Eistibus?"

The Angel nodded. "My creation came to be many, many millennia ago, I live to see all paths, all choice, all ways to the end. He may create His Divinity and cause His ending His way, but the path still layered with choice is my dominion."

Chloe searched her face, curiosity alighting in her. This one seemed different to both Amenadiel and Lucifer, but she couldn't put her finger on why. "You don't call him Dad?" She realised, frowning at her.

"I bear the burden of all knowledge, the paths that lead to them and what will inevitably be. I see the births and deaths of every creature, celestial or no. All things die, Chloe Decker."

Chloe wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but she wasn't sure she wanted to know anyway. "Why did you come here?" She asked, her detective senses tingling. There was something going on here, she wanted to know what.

"The Light Bringer burns with passion and guilt, his path is already foretold, his life is yours now, Chloe Decker, only you can restore what he once lost."

"The Light Bringer, you mean Lucifer?" She asked, thinking hard about what he'd ever said to her, the things she'd read in the bible. "Is he hurt?"

Eistibus considered for a moment, though there was no physical change in her stance. "The Fury of God will rage; the Light Bringer must make his own path."

This was all getting needlessly complicated. "Where is Lucifer?"

"The Light Bringer remains in the darkness, tethered to his own assumptions of the end. His path is not clear, but the Miracle will show him the way."

Frustration reaching a boiling point, Chloe glared at the Angel spurting nothing but riddles and rhymes. "Tell me about the Light Bringer." Maybe speaking her language would help?

"The Light Bringer sees but he does not know. His belief wanes when he wishes to make a choice." She said. "The Light Bringer cannot make the choice, it is not for him to decide. The miracle is his salvation."

"Are you saying I… I need to save Lucifer?"

Eistibus blinked. "The Denizens of Darkness will claim them; the path has been set. You must make your choice, Chloe Decker, there is little time left."

"Little time for what!?" Chloe called, too late. The Angel had already wrapped her veil back around her face and spread her deep blue wings. It was a strange and compelling thing to see as she suddenly disappeared. But now Chloe was left with even more questions than she had answers. Just what was the Angel talking about? Who were the Denizens of Darkness, what was the Fury of God and what choice was she supposed to make? Just what was she supposed to save Lucifer from?


	2. Jane Doe

Jane Doe

**A/N: I wasn't going to write anymore to this, it was supposed to be a Oneshot, but I suppose that was a bit of wishful thinking on my part. I do have a storyline for this, I just hope it does itself justice. Let me know what you think!**

* * *

"Mummy, I had a dream about Lucifer." Chloe opened her eyes to see Trixie standing by her bed, clearly having just woken up. She turned over to glance at the clock on her bedside table. _5:32 am. _Chloe moved over and lifted the covers for Trixie.

"Lay with me, Monkey. Why don't you tell me about your dream?"

Trixie nodded and crawled into the bed, laying her head on the pillow beside Chloe. "I think he was talking to me, but it was hard to understand."

Chloe nodded. Trixie had a few dreams about Lucifer, some about Maze too. She missed him, and Chloe couldn't deny the lurch in her chest every time she mentioned him. Trixie didn't understand completely why he was gone, how could she? All she really knew was that one of her favourite people was gone with no explanation and as much as Chloe tried to tell her, there wasn't much she could say, because Maze was gone too. "What else happened?"

"Nothing really, he seemed upset about something, but I couldn't tell what. He was very angry too and there were lots of dark things. It felt funny and then he reached for me and I woke up."

Chloe tucked the blanket up around her shoulders. "Anything else?"

Trixie shrugged. "I don't remember." She said sadly, and Chloe's heart burned for her daughter.

"It was only a dream, Monkey. Why don't you go back to sleep and we'll have pancakes for breakfast before school?"

Trixie's eyes lit up and she immediately closed them. Chloe rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. Even though she knew Lucifer wasn't up there, she wasn't so sure looing down was right either since she didn't really believe the whole Heaven above and Hell below thing. She had a lot of time to think about it over the last couple of months and she was pretty sure it was more like a dimensional thing and that's why one needed wings to get there, like they were a dimensional transport of some sort, otherwise, why wouldn't Lucifer's mother have been able to get back to wherever she'd wanted to go? She'd thought more about all of this than she'd ever have time for, it was all she'd been doing really for about six months. Not having a partner at work to question her had helped since she'd refused to be assigned another one after Lucifer and it seemed the new Lieutenant hadn't been all that worried about it, though she expected it would come up soon.

Sighing, Chloe closed her eyes to try and get just a little more sleep, but it wasn't really working. Several minutes later she opened her eyes again and carefully crawled out of bed. She didn't want to disturb Trixie, but she couldn't stay in bed right now, she was too awake. Instead she was going to make herself a coffee and try to catch up on some casework she'd been neglecting. She hadn't been given any big cases in a while, partially because she was currently partnerless and partially because she'd taken some leave and had only gotten back into work a couple of months ago. Three months of leave was a lot of time and she hadn't really told anyone why but explaining it you were trying to find a way to contact the Devil in Hell didn't seem like such a great topic to lead with.

The apartment was starting to lighten as she put the coffee pot on, the curtains allowing the minuscule amounts of light to stream through unabated. The result was strange shadows that seemed to move on their own, but Chloe knew she was imagining it because she'd been seeing things everywhere since she'd run into that Angel last week. She wasn't really sure what to make of any of it. To be honest, she had been trying not to think about it. She didn't know much about Lucifer's siblings, but after talking to that one, she was convinced that they were all crazy. What a family to be involved in. She looked to the ceiling again, annoyed to realise that she was actually throwing a silent apology to the man upstairs, but she didn't know if he really could know everything that was happening, and she didn't really want him to think of her as rude, though being the Almighty, she was sure he'd heard worse in his name.

The coffee brewed, and Chloe grabbed it, tipping a generous amount into her mug before taking a seat at the counter. She needed something strong right now and milk and sugar wasn't going to do it, so, she was going full dark with this one. Grimacing at the taste but relishing the rush she got from it as it burned its bitterness down her throat, she turned her head to look at her bedroom door. Trixie had been spending a lot of time in there, Chloe was convinced it was because she could tell her mother was sad, but she didn't know for sure. And, really, of course she was sad, she'd lost her partner and someone she deeply cared for at the same time, how was she not going to be upset after that.

Her cell started to ring, and Chloe jumped, almost spilling her coffee down her shirt. She sighed and walked around the counter to the coffee table in the loungeroom, thankful for once that she hadn't taken her phone with her to bed. As she looked at the caller ID, her eyebrows pulled down in a frown. "Dan?"

"_Chloe, is this a bad time?"_

Chloe looked at the time again and rolled her eyes. "Well, it is a bit before 6, so you tell me."

There was a soft laugh on the other end. _"Sorry, the Lieutenant asked me to call you in, we have a body."_

Chloe sighed. She hadn't been called in on a case in a while, so she was a little surprised, but not unhappy. "Text me the address, I'll find someone to look after Trixie."

"_And Chloe, be prepared alright, it's not pretty."_

Those words told her a lot, either it was a gruesomely murdered elderly, or a young child, neither of which were what Chloe particularly wanted to see right now, but there wasn't much for it. "Noted. See you in about an hour."

Hanging up the phone, Chloe sighed again, something she seemed to be doing a lot these days and dropped her cell heavily on the counter. Time to wake up Trixie. She wasn't probably going to have to drop her off at Linda's, she couldn't think of who else to turn to. Of course, normally she would rely on Maze, but since she was back in Hell, Linda and Amenadiel had been really stepping up to help. Not wanting to risk waking baby Charlie, Chloe pressed her hands together in Prayer and just hoped it would work. Almost immediately she heard the flutter of wings and opened her eyes to see Amenadiel standing between her bedroom and herself. She smiled softly. "Thanks for coming so quickly."

Amenadiel nodded, looking around as if he was expecting there to be danger. When he didn't see anything out of the ordinary her frowned and looked at her. "I assumed something was wrong, you've never prayed to me before."

Chloe nodded. "Sorry, it's really early, I got called into a case. I need to leave before Trixie is due for school, can I bring her over? I would've called, but I didn't want to wake Charlie."

Amenadiel's frown upturned at that and he relaxed. "Ah, very considerate, but he is already awake, it was why I got here so quickly. I don't think Linda will mind. I think she's been itching to talk to your offspring since Lucifer went back to hell, maybe to get some dirt on you."

Chloe rolled her eyes. Linda had been trying to get her to a session for months, but, stubborn as ever, she just couldn't bring herself to go. The good Doctor might have helped Lucifer, somehow, but Chloe didn't even fully understand her own feelings right now, sharing them with someone else surely wasn't going to make things any clearer, especially since she couldn't even see them herself. "Tell her she's not to shrink Trixie."

Amenadiel's amusement only increased as he disappeared, and Chloe continued her walk to the bedroom. Coffee still in hand, she edged the door open quietly to see Trixie wide awake and sitting up in the bed. "Were you talking to someone, Mummy?"

Chloe shrugged. "I needed to check with Linda and Amenadiel if I could drop you off before school. Dad just called and said there was a case he needed my help on." She said, carefully not mentioning that Amenadiel had been in the house just now. "Sorry, Monkey, we have to raincheck on the pancakes."

Trixie nodded, already used to this sort of thing and began to crawl out of bed. The amount of times that Chloe had to run out on a case was pretty high, but she hadn't done it in a while. She sometimes wished she could spend a lot more time with her daughter than she did currently, but she loved being a Detective and more than that, she was good at it. It was one of the few things she'd seemed to take to straight away, the thirst to understand and study was inherent in her, as it had been in her father. She grasped at straws and followed the lead, sometimes it took her nowhere, then she would just turn around and grasp another straw, follow another lead. She was one of the best damn Detectives in LA and she was very proud of that.

Taking a last sip of her coffee, Chloe trotted back out of her room as Trixie disappeared around the corner into her to pack her bag. She hoped she had enough time for a quick shower, looking at the clock – _6:10 _– she nodded and quickly dumped her cup in the sink before making her way over to the bathroom for a quick rinse. That would teach her to have her showers at night instead of in the morning, though she never did know when she might get a call. She knew Lucifer would think this a terribly inappropriate time for a body to be discovered. She was sure he would have something to say, like that the killer could have at least waited until it was a decent hour, or that the body should have known to stay hidden a little longer.

The thoughts of Lucifer made her smile slightly for the first time in a while as she flipped the water on and quickly undressed before stepping under the warm spray. She could hear Trixie moving around out in the lounge room, probably trying to stuff pancakes ingredients into her bag. Hey, if she could convince Linda _or _Amenadiel to make her pancakes then Chloe wasn't about to stop her. She had promised her pancakes after all, she supposed it didn't matter where they came from.

Ten minutes later, Chloe stepped out of the shower and spent a further five minutes blow-drying her hair. Trixie knocked on the door. "What's up, Munchkin?"

"Do you have lunch for me?"

Chloe groaned, she'd completely forgotten. "I'll get someone to drop something up at the school, that okay?"

There was silence for a couple of seconds and Chloe thought Trixie had left before "– I can just grab an apple."

Chloe finished her hair as quickly as she could before wrapping her towel tightly around herself. She didn't like Trixie sounding like this and found her in the kitchen, reaching for an apple. "Come here, Monkey, I want to talk to you."

Trixie slowly walked over, her pink jacket hanging off one shoulder. It was a bit of a pathetic sight, Chloe had to admit, and she found herself fixing Trixie up before kneeling down to her level. "Look, Baby, I know I've been a bit unfocused on you lately and I am really sorry about that, but I promise it's nothing to do with you."

Trixie sniffled lightly and the tears that Chloe hadn't realised were there, prickled at her eyes. "I know that, Mummy."

Chloe wasn't quite sure she understood, but she wrapped her arms around Trixie anyway, trying to provide as much comfort as she could. "When I get home this afternoon, I promise we'll have a proper conversation, okay, but right now Mummy's a little rushed. Is that okay?"

Trixie nodded and raced off back to her room, leaving Chloe watching after her, concerned, not for the last time, that there was something going on with Trixie that she didn't know about.

QWERTY

"What have we got, Dan?"

The body was found partially hidden in some bushed in Griffith Park. Not the first time they'd found a body here, unfortunately. It seemed this was the kind of place that people liked to go for seclusion, given it was large and out of the way, there was plenty of places to go where you couldn't be seen from any roads. From what Chloe could see, the body was a young girl, long red hair all matted with blood. She was still wearing a torn princess dress, but the matching crown was nowhere to be seen.

"Jane Doe, yet to be identified, Ella puts her age at about ten. She's dolled up, high heels, make up, looks like she was coming back from a party of a sort."

Chloe followed Dan for a closer look. These types of cases were hard, the ones involving kids and she'd been beaten too, from the blood in her hair. Hard to tell if that was the cause of death though. "Do we have Cause of Death?"

Ella pooped up from where she was perched taking photos of the little girl's head wound, sighing. "Some kind of blunt force trauma to the back of the head. I'll have to get the tox screen back, but just based on age, Chloe, this was a murder. The body was moved here from somewhere else, there's no blood trail and she's been dead at least twelve hours."

Chloe nodded, kneeling to get a look at the victim. Separating her emotions from the case was the only way to get through cases like this, especially when her emotions had been getting her into trouble with everything else. She noticed that the back of the dress seemed damp. "Who found the body, any witnesses?"

Dan gestured over to the police tape, a tall man dressed in fitness gear was standing with his back to the scene, speaking with a uniformed officer. The taut muscles in his back were telling her that he was extremely uncomfortable, understandable given the circumstances. "He called us about five this morning, said he'd been out for a jog and he stopped to have some water, but when he looked down to spit it out, the little girl was peeking out from the bushes."

"Well, that accounts for the dampness then, Ella, make sure you make a note of the damp patch here," she waved her hand over the area, "I want to make sure his story checks out."

"You got it."

Chloe stood up and headed over to the jogger, schooling her face carefully blank. "Thanks, Officer, I'll take it from here." The uniform nodded and moved on and the jogger turned to face her. He was about her age, dark hair pulled up and away from his face. The light stubble around his mouth was peppered with grey, giving away his age and his eyes were filled with deep sadness. Chloe wasn't used to finding the bodies of kids around LA, but she'd seen it often enough, she imagined it was even harder for a bystander. "Hi, I'm Detective Chloe Decker, can you tell me what happened?"

"I was just jogging. I like to come out this early usually because it's a quiet time and I start work at 7." He told her, his hands placed carefully in front of him, a protective stance, trying to calm himself. Chloe took note. "I usually come this way, quickest way to the office."

"You jog to your office in the morning?"

"Yeah, I work over at Richards and Wheeler, the law firm?"

Chloe nodded. "Yes, I'm aware of it."

"I've been trying to make partner, it's been difficult, but ever since Ms Richards left…" He trailed off, seeming to realise Chloe wasn't interested in his work life right now. "I didn't call straight away, I was trying to calm down after what I saw." He admitted.

"And what time was this?"

"About quarter to five I think, sorry I wasn't watching the time."

Chloe nodded. "Thanks, here's my card. Call me if you remember anything."

He nodded before turning away and Chloe headed back to Ella and Dan. "Do we have anything that gives us something to work with?"

Ella shrugged. "I won't fully know until we get the analysis back from autopsy."

"Might be best if we head into the precinct, Lieutenant wants to speak to you." Dan told her, eyeing her for her response.

Chloe sighed. "She probably wants to get me to agree to a new partner."

Dan watched her coolly, trying not to let his emotions about Lucifer cloud his judgement. "Look Chloe," he started, heading in the direction of her car. "I think you need to face the fact that Lucifer isn't coming back. Has he contacted his brother at all? What about Dr Martin or Maze, he was still seeing her right?"

Chloe kept tight lipped. She didn't want to talk about this right now. All of this was too raw, and she was focused on finding out what happened to the little girl. "Not now, Dan. Please. I just want to get to the Precinct."

Dan didn't make a sound, but she could tell he was disappointed. Eventually he nodded, and broke off, heading for his own car. "I'll meet you back there, I'll see if I can find anything in Missing persons."

"Great, let me know what you find, she's ten years old, someone has to be looking for her."

QWERTY

At the Precinct, Chloe stepped into the Lieutenant's office. The woman was decent as a Lieutenant, certainly better than Pierce, given he was a murderer, but she was mostly removed from the day to day proceedings of the Precinct. She spent most of her time elbow deep in paperwork, not much field experience. A strange placement for her, Chloe thought. Currently, the sharp faced woman was clacking away at her computer, though Chloe wasn't sure what she was working on. Her curly hair was pulled up into a tight bun and she stared at her screen menacingly.

"You wanted to see me, Lieutenant?"

The woman looked up, she didn't smile, but her gaze softened mildly. "Yes, thank you, Decker. Please take a seat."

Chloe did as she was asked and pulled the chair out to sit in. She could already tell she wasn't going to like where this conversation was going. "Sir, if this is about the partner thing, then I-"

"It's not, please don't assume." She said, closing her laptop. "Decker, you haven't worked a homicide case in months, I've given you this one because it's a delicate matter, the other Detectives are working on more high-profile cases." She said, cracking her knuckles. "I need you to assure me you can do this. I can have Detective Espinoza work the case alone, but as you know, he's still on probation until the higher ups think they can trust him. Which is probably going to take a while."

Chloe blinked in surprise. She hadn't been expecting this conversation. "Uh, right. Yes. Of course, I can do this." She said, nodding resolutely.

The Lieutenant regarded her seriously, looking for a weak spot, something she could pull on to unravel the enigma that was Chloe Decker. "Decker, I want to believe you," she steepled her fingers. "How many Detectives take three months off work and don't go on vacation, I heard you mostly didn't leave your apartment, or spent time in that den of debauchery and sin they call a night club."

Chloe remained silent, not quite sure where this was going.

"All I'm asking is are you really certain you can handle this. I know it was hard for you when your partner left, it always is, but I want you to know that you have the full support of the precinct behind you and when you're ready to take on another partner, we'll have one picked for you."

Chloe nodded, but sighed. "Thanks Lieutenant, but I really am okay. I've worked without Lucifer before, I can do it again." No-one really understood that her pain and anger weren't really of Lucifer leaving her, but rather the circumstances that lead to it. Would he ever be able to return to Earth now, knowing what they did about the prophecy? What if it all happened all over again because he returned. He had said she was his first love, she was incredibly touched by that, but honestly, part of her wished it had been about Eve, then maybe she could have Lucifer with her right now and she wouldn't have to worry about Evil walking the Earth.

"Alright, you can go, keep working on this case, let me know what you find."

Chloe stood up and left the office, feeling no better about the exchange than she had walking in there. The Lieutenant had a way of drawing things out of you, it reminded her a little of Lucifer and when the Lieutenant had started she'd asked Lucifer to doublecheck that the woman wasn't a Celestial. He'd said no, but right now she was almost wishing Lucifer hadn't said anything, because now she felt stupid every time she spoke to the woman.

The short walk to her desk meant she had to try to keep herself focused on the task. She could feel eyes on her from all directions, waiting, watching to see if she was going to disappear back into her hole or maybe crack up into peals of laughter. Lucifer wasn't here anymore so it was back to standard operating procedure. She could tell that she wasn't the only one that missed him, though she certainly missed him the most. The rest of the department had no ideas what had really happened to him and as far as they all knew, he'd just up and left. She couldn't tell them the truth and the leaving part at least was true, but the precinct was sure a lot quieter without him around and she'd been able to catch up on a lot of the paperwork that she'd missed.

The scraping of a chair made her look up to see Dan hovering next to it. She gestured for him to sit down. "What did you find?"

Dan shook his head. "It's not good. She hasn't been reported missing yet from what I can tell. Apparently, she's a nobody."

That didn't make sense, she was a ten-year-old girl. How was she not reported missing. "That can't be right, she's a child. How could someone not have missed her in -" she looked at her watch, "fourteen hours?"

Dan shook his head. "I looked everywhere, Chlo, there's no record of her and because she's a minor, there isn't much we can check for ID. Do you want me to see if we can get a hold of Births, Deaths and Marriages, maybe they have something?"

Chloe leaned back in her chair. "Without any clue who she is, we can't give them anything to find her by. What we need to do is try to find out where she was prior, maybe find out what party she was at yesterday?"

Dan nodded. "I want to know why a ten-year-old was out so late by herself."

"You and me both. Dressed like that, she had to be going somewhere."

"I can't think of any religious holidays or celebrations she would have been out for, and Halloween isn't for another month." Dan added, voicing Chloe's own concern.

"Yeah, that's something that's bugging me, where's her crown? She was dressed like a Princess right, she had to have one, but it wasn't at the scene. Did it drop off whilst the killer was moving her?"

Dan leaned forward. "Was it taken as a prize to remember the kill? It's hard to say without more information." He looked over to Ella's lab. "Maybe Ella has something?"

Chloe nodded. "I'll be there in a second, I need to organize one of the unis to take some lunch up for Trixie."

Dan nodded and headed over to the lab, chatting with Ella at the door as he waited for Chloe. She watched them curiously for a moment before walking over to the admin girl. "Hi Rachel."

Rachel looked up surprised, Chloe knew she wasn't used to seeing her since she almost never came by. "Sorry, I just need a favour if that's alright?"

Rachel nodded. She was a plump girl with glasses and brown hair that framed her face perfectly. She'd once heard Lucifer call her _innocently captivating_ and she could suddenly see why. "Um, sure, Detective Decker. What do you need?"

Chloe smiled. "I had to run out before I could make lunch for my daughter today, could you take it to her, I made some up whilst I was here before, it's in the fridge in the lunchroom."

Rachel nodded and headed over there whilst Chloe turned back to the lab. She wanted to know what, if anything, Ella had found.

QWERTY

"Chloe! It's good to see you working cases again, really, you had me worried for a while, what with Lucifer gone, Maze AWOL and Amenadiel and Linda looking after little Charlie, I thought maybe you were having a hard time of it, which is totally understandable, I know you and Lucifer were-" she cut herself off immediately at the pleading look she received from Chloe. She nodded. "Right, sorry. Yes, so we have some prelims back from the lab. We can confirm that the girl was killed by blunt force trauma to the back of the head. Seems a little violent to kill a child." She said.

Dan nodded, stepping fully into the room, wisely choosing not to address the comments on Lucifer and Chloe's relationship. "What else do we have, something that could help us identify her?"

Ella pulled up some files on her computer. "Nothing concrete but look at this. According to what we have, this little girl has the same finger prints as a Jane Doe who showed up dead six months ago. We never found anything on her then, either."

Chloe frowned. "So, we have the same Jane Doe, are they sure?"

Ella nodded. "Positive and get this, she has autopsy scars!"

That made Chloe pause. All she could think of was the night Lucifer left and the demons who'd had to possess the recently deceased, but that made no sense, why would she have autopsy scars but show up dead now. From what she had been told, Demons could only possess the _recently deceased_, she was sure that meant only a couple of hours, not long enough for someone to have performed an autopsy, surely. "This doesn't make any sense at all."

Ella nodded. "You're telling me. The weirdest thing though, is it looks like she was tortured before she was killed. The trauma to the head seems like it was almost a mercy."

Dan shook his head. "God, that's horrible. Who would do this sort of thing to a child?"

"Who indeed." Thoughts and theories were running through Chloe's head at a million miles an hour. She would have to go to Amenadiel about this, she didn't have much choice. If there were demons still running around LA possessing humans, then something had to be done. There would be a lot more cases of this, she was sure, she just had to work out a way to find them, after all, no one in the world was as equipped for this as she was. "Good work, Ella. Keep me posted."

Ella nodded and turned back to her computer, tapping away at the keys to make notes. Chloe headed out of the room and Dan followed. "Man, this is going to be a tough one, Chloe. I bet Lucifer would find some way to blame this on his crazy Uncle who's actually a Demon or something."

Chloe frowned. "Nah, Lucifer's an angel, right, so his Uncle would have to be God's brother, but I don't think God has any brothers."

Dan was clearly confused at why Chloe was going along with it and shook his head. "What, you believe the bullshit he's been spewing the last couple of years, you didn't use to."

Chloe smiled softly at him. "Let's just say there's more to him than either of us thought, alright?"

Dan wasn't sure he agreed, but he left it alone for the time being. "How are we supposed to find out who the little girl was. If she died twice, supposedly, there has to be someone looking for her?"

Chloe nodded. "With that new information, maybe we're looking at this the wrong way. Maybe we should check death records from six months ago."

Dan facepalmed. "Of course, sorry, Chloe."

Chloe shook her head and placed her hand gently on Dan's shoulder. He was still having a rough time of things, but he was getting better. He was seeing someone for his grief and that had been helping. It wasn't Linda, since she was still on leave, but someone was better than no one. "Dan, it's alright. This case is… well, it's something else, we have to think differently here, I have a feeling this won't be as easy as we would like." Not that these types of cases were ever easy.

"Right. I'll go and see what I can find. I'll let you know."

Chloe watched Dan leave and sighed. Now she had to speak to Amenadiel. She wasn't looking forward to the conversation, but it was one that needed to be had regardless. If Demons were still roaming, that meant they were defying Lucifer and it also meant he probably didn't know about it.


End file.
